A "Cyrus anointing"?

Now I think I’ve heard everything …

There’s this doctrine in some charismatic Christian circles that President Donald Trump has a “Cyrus anointing.” I first heard about it right after the general election last year, but it was reinforced by a so-called prophet named Lance Wallnau, who was a guest on a TV show hosted by Jim Bakker. He was comparing Trump to the Persian emperor Cyrus, who allowed the Jewish people of that day to return to their traditional homeland in that Trump would, shall we say, set Christians free. (There are 20 mentions of Cyrus, in 2 Chronicles, Ezra, Isaiah and Daniel.)

This represents another case of violence being done to the Word of God to justify supporting a clearly ungodly man, let alone a divisive one.

It’s important to note that when Cyrus was on the throne God had sent Israel into exile for 70 years due to disobedience (it had been in the land for 490 years but failed to observe the Year of Jubilee in that time), and it’s thus quite likely that the “remnant” that was left was somewhat repentant. But I see no repentance among Christians for their disobedience, so it doesn’t apply there.

Moreover — and this is probably the key issue here — Christians are not being persecuted in this country because of their support for Trump. Let me say that again: Christians are not being persecuted. If there’s any persecution going on, it’s being directed toward those Christians who came out against him (Russell Moore of the Southern Baptist Convention has had his job threatened for speaking out against him, and, according to an article in a recent issue of Atlantic magazine, other believers have lost ministry opportunities for not toeing the line).

Of course, Trump gained favor with evangelicals by saying that he would grant them the special status that they’ve often craved. But there’s a price to be paid for that, and I don’t want to know what that will be. This much I do know: The idea of Trump having any kind of “anointing” is ludicrous.